The “V” Shaped torso is the ideal for men (X-Shaped if you count the legs). Having a set of broad shoulders, that taper down to a thin waste is the look men have been trying to achieve for years. And it’s the look that women want to see in a guy.

A lot of the time guys think that women want to be seeing slabs, and mounds of pure muscle mass. But they don’t. They don’t want to date a guy that can barely fit through a door. Or a guy that can’t share a spot on the couch because he’s too massive. Yes they want muscle. But they want it to be lean and athletic-looking. Not hulking.

I’m not going to say that women are the only reason we go to the gym. That’s nonsense. But they are a very large part of why we train, whether you like to admit it or not. And that ideal physique that women look for starts with the shoulders.

1. Fluctuate your repetitions.

I mean really fluctuate your reps when training shoulders. For your heavier presses you can do 5×5, 4×8, and 3 or 4×12. But add in some higher rep single sets at the end of a workout like lateral raises for 1 set of 50 reps (you may fail once or twice during the set). Choose a lighter weight, but not too light that you finish the set with ease.

The deltoids are relatively smaller muscles, which means they recover faster and can take more muscle damage than some of your bigger muscle groups like those of the lower body or your chest or lats.

2. Build a thicker chest and back.

Having broad shoulders often depends on the development of our chest and our lats. Our back muscles pull our shoulders back. Having an over developed chest and an underdeveloped back pulls your shoulders forward (not the look you want).

Our shoulders also ‘sit’ on your lats, and partially on our chest as well. By building thick lats and back muscles, but also a thick and broad chest you’re actually building wider, more confident-looking shoulders.

What to do:

To build a full muscle – for both the chest and back area – focus on all grips. Build your lats and chest from the inside-out. Close grip pulls work the area closer to the spine (center), and as you get wider, so does the area of focus. When doing pulldowns, the closer grip works the base of the lat where it meets the waist. A wider grip builds the part of the lat that meets the posterior deltoid.

3. Build thicker, fuller traps.

Thicker traps = wider looking shoulders. Your traps are the muscles that connect the neck with the top of the shoulders. It’s important to have a good balance between rounded deltoids and thick traps. Going overboard with either can look less that ideal.